Mouthpiece for musical instruments



March 18 1924. 1,487,566

H B.HENTON Mou'mnscs Foiz MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS Filed July 7, 1922 Patented Mar. 18, 1924.

UNITED STATES H BENNE HENTON, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

MOUTHPIECE FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

Application filed July 7, 1922. Serial No. 573,262,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, H BENNE HENTON, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Philadelphia, inthe county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mouthpieces for Musical Instruments, and more particularly to mouthpieces for instruments such as the saxophone, clarinet, and the like.

This invention has for its particular object to provide a mouthpiece of this general character in which the portion engaged by the lip of the player is so shaped as to facilitate the retention of the same between the lips of the player.

Heretofore mouthpieces of this type have been provided on the side opposed to the facing with a surface which inclined toward the facing and terminated in a relatively thin edge. In use-the lip of the player rests upon this inclined surface and difiiculty is often experienced in preventing the lips from slipping off the inclined surface. This is particularly so in the case of amateurs and the tone is very frequently impaired by the player biting too hard upon the mouth iece thus preventing the free vibration o the reed.

The primary object therefore ofthis invention is to provide a mouthpiece wherein the sloped or inclined portion of the mouthpiece is concaved longitudinally and flared slightly adjacent the tip of the mouthpiece thus producing a slight enlargement to provide a purchase for the players lip. In this manner the lip of the player may be maintained in engagement with the slope of the mouthpiece without any particular effort and the necessity for biting the mouthpiece is eliminated thus materially increasing the quality of the tone obtained. A

Furthermore, the invention has for its object to provide a mouthpiece wherein a more durable construction is obtained in that the tip of the mouthpieceis made relatively wider. Mouthpieces now universally employed are inherently weak at the tip thereof owing to the construction wherein a narrow edge is provided at this point. Therefore, with this present invention, a mouthpiece may be constructed with dimensions similar in other respects to mouthpieces now universally used but wherein the tip of the mouthpiece is strengthened and the mouthpiece made durable by the presence of more material adjacent the tip in consequence of the widening of this point.

It has also been found that staccato tones are improved inasmuch as in making these tones the player touches the tip of the mouthpiece repeatedly and in succession in order to produce the same. By broadening the tip surface of the mouthpiece these tones may be produced with considerably greater ease and more certainty.

The advantages of a mouthpiece constructed in accordance with this invention will be made more apparent in the accompanying specification and drawings.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a mouthpiece constructed in accordance with this invention,

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the mouthpiece with the reed removed,

.Fig. 3 is a central longitudinal section through the mouthpiece,

Fig. 4 is an end elevation, and,

Fig. 5 is an elevation of a mouthpiece constructed in the heretofore known manner.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings wherein like reference characters indicate like parts it will be noted that there is illustrated a mouthpiece 10 which may be formed of any suitable material such as vulcanized rubber, glass or wood and provided with the usual central opening 11.

The facing of the mouthpiece is formed by a metal reed plate 12 moulded with the body of the mouthpiece in accordance with the method described in U. S. Patent No. 1,401,634 dated December 27th, 1921, granted to Harry E. OBrien as inventor and to myself as the assignee of one-half of the right, title and interest thereto.v As appears in Fig. 1, a reed 13 is clamped on to the facing 12 by means of a ligature 14 in the usual manner.

In Fig. 5 of the drawings there is illus trated a mouthpiece 10 constructed in accordance with the specifications now universally in vogue, that is, there is provided a sloped or inclined portion 15 which is inclined on a comparatively straight line from the point 16* to the tip 17. As mentioned hereinbefore, mouthpieces constructed in this manner offer the possibility of the players lip slipping ofi the slope 15 and offering the further objection that in order to overcome this, players invariably, particularly amateurs, hold the mouthpiece too tightly between their lips and thereby impair the tones produced by interrupting the tree vibrations of the reed.

Therefore in order to eliminate this objection the slope 15 of my improved mouthpiece instead 01: extending along a relatively straight line inclined from the point 16 tb the point 1? presents in longitudinal section. a dished or curved contour. In other words. the sloping portion of the mouthpiece 10 is concaved or dished as clearly illustrated in the drawings. The shape o t this dished portion is such as to provide in'nnediately adjacent the tip 17 a flaring portion 18. this being provided by making the mouthpiece 1O relatively narrower transversely along the plane indicated by the line A-A and relatively thicker transversely along the plane indicated by the line B-B. Therefore a relat've abutment or enlargement is provided against which the lip of the player may bear thus providing a purchase for the players lip to prevent the same from slipping oil the end of the mouth piece.

It has been found that the tip of saxophone and clarinet mouthpieces is the portion which is inherently weak and from an examination of Fig. 5 the reason for this will be apparent. In this figure it will be noted that the tip 17 is relatively thin or narrow and even when this tip is reinforced as in this present instance, by the metal facing plate 12, still the liability of injury to the mouthpiece this point is always present. bviously in known constructions of mouthpieces this tip 17 can not be made thicker unless the length and angle of the slope 15 is changed or unless the diameter of the body is increased whereupon the degree of inclination and the length of the slope may be maintained and the width of the tip A correspondingly increased.

Howe er. it is desirable to increase the width of the tip of the mouthpiece without materially altering the dimensions of the body of the mouthpiece and in my present invention this is accomplished. The body of the mouthpiece 10 is in accordance with my invention of the standard size while the tip 17 is considerably wider. This con struction is made possible by reason of the bowed or dished slope which proviiiles a relatively tlarcd end at the point 17.

The desiral'iilil'y of producing a mouth piece having a relatively thick tip 17 is not entirely inlluenced by the propensity of the mouthpiece for breaking at this point but on the other hand. enables the player to produce staccato tones with greater case. In producing these tones the pl 7 Y "s tongue is caused to quickly and succoavely engage the tip and by broadening the surface engaged by the tongue this action isrendered more agreeable and positive.

The slope of a mouthpiece is usually curved transversely of the body and in this present instance this same configuration is maintained as will be apparent. particularly in Figs. 1 and 4, wherein it will be seen that the slope is not only provided with an inwardly extending curve longitudinally. but also with an outward curve transversely.

As mentioned hereinbefore mouthpieces constructed in accordance with this invention prove particularly a dvantageous to amateurs as they are enabled to retain the mouthpiece in firm engagement with the lips without biting the same or pressing the lips so tightly as to impair the tones produced by choking the vibration of the reed. Indeed, it has been found that professional players can use mouthpieccs constructed in accordance with this invention with less effort. Furthermore, the widening ofthe tip enables both professionals and amateurs to produce staccato notes with greater ease and the thickening of the tip renders the mouthpiece considerably more durable.

lVhile one physical embodiment of the invention has been described and illustrated herein it will be obvious that the invention consists essentially in providing a lip retaining surface on the slope of the mouthpiece and in widening this tip portion. Therefore, reser 'ation is made to make such changes in the specific form of the invention illustrated may be found proper and expedient and may come within the purview of the accompanying claim.

Having thus described the invention. what I claim is:

A mouthpiece lor musical instruments comprising a body 'tm'med with a facing surface for the reed. the opposite side of said body bcing formed with a slope terminating at the tip of the body. said slope being dished longitudinally on a curve 0X- tending toward. said facing snrla c and. receding therefrom toward the tip to T rin a relatively thick tip portion.

H BENNY) HENHU.

Ill) 

